Apparatus for making silage



Dec. 35, 1942. H. HEusER APPARATUS FOR MAKING SILAGE Filed Nov. 16, 1940INVENTOR.

air after the fermentation is over.

doors.

' silo.

Patented Dec. 15,; 1942 T l S T P TENT A PARATUS FOR S A 1 1 Y HermanHeuse 'EVanstonQHL 7 I I i I I} Appiication Novemberm, v1940, Serial No.365,880 I zdlaims. (01, 99-235 The present invention relates to themaking of silage such as corn silage and the'like, and it consists in anew apparatus for making the same.-. w

*gaskets or' other" sealing means when desired.

As usually is the case, the silage-inthe top of a silo spoils to aconsiderable depth within. a:

short time after the silo has been filled up. Thisa is due to the air inthe top of the silo furnishing the oxygen required for the growth ofmould" fungi.

out the gas, that is tosay, carbon dioxide, during the fermentation ofthe silage, and letting in the The main objector my invention is tocarry out the silagemaking so that there is no spoilfromthe inter'ior ofthei'silo to the interioroi thechut'e when the doors areopen, and which,doors may be-closed and hermeticallysealed by- As seen in .Figs. 2 and3;these*doors carry the outwardlyextended threaded stem. a threadedthrough the =nut b iormingpart of the outwardly bowed arm c which, ifdesired, may be'pivotally mounted "at d to'a lug on the silo wall andprovided at its lower end with "holes and a removable pin e, insertedinto com'plemental holes, in

a lug f. When the pine is'in' place'the door 6 may be'seaied shut byrotating handwheel g in the appropriate direction, or the door. may beopened by rotating thehand wheel in the opposite dire'ction and,-it.desired, the-pin e may be then removed andthe door-swung further openage of silage in the top of the silo and at the silo A further objectis-to do this in a' simple manner and at a negligible expense. I 5

A still further object is to improve the silage throughout the entiremass of silage. 1

Other objects, advantages and later more fully appear.

My invention further resides in the combina- I tion, construction andarrangement of partsillustrated in the accompanying drawin and whilesuflicient accessibility may be used; The steps,

capabilities will on' its pivot: d. I.do not wish to be limited to thisparticular door'as any other form of door that maybe sealed tight andwhen opened give ladder-rungs or the like 2|. in chute 5 extend up tothe silo-'roof'-1,"which is provided-with a sealable manhole door 8 ofthe gas tank type, more or less similar to the-doors 6. There isinserted in the siloroof I of silo 4 a pipe 9 for carrying 1 off the gasproduced by the fermentation'of the I have shown therein a preferredembodiment I:

wish it understood that the same issusce'ptible of modification andchange without departing I fromthe spirit of*my invention.

I In the drawing: Fig. 1 is a side elevation Fig. 3 is a from the top ofthe silo to the atmosphere.

view similar toi Fig. 2 but showing a somewhat different meansforcarrying thegas of av silo embodying my invention, a portion of thetop being shown in" silage. Pipe 9 isseal'ed at its end H) by a liquid'contained in vessel: l I which communicates 'throughpipe l2 with theatmosphere. The pipe {reaches-so farinto the liquid as to producea'resistance equal'to a pressure; whichthe silo walls;can-easily:stand,-say to a pressure of eight v I The sealing liquidmay-be water but usually his a non-freezing liquid such'as brine (asolution 01 saltin water); Silo 4 -isl further ounces.

provided with a pipe l3 equipped with valve I4 for reducing the gaspressure in thesilo to the 3 pressure of the atmosphere, before the silois to be opened for feeding'tiie silage therein to the I cattleorotherfarm-animals.

I have discovered that the spoilage oi th'e sil-" age is prevented byworking with a silo that is hermetically sealableand that is'provided atthe top with. means for carrying. off the gas, mostly silage.

In the following I willdescribe how a silo my invention: l I

002, produced during thefermentation of the Referring more in detail tothe'drawing, Fig.1

shows a silo with its top portion illustrated in are hermeticallysealable. The doors 6 are formed ,in the silo side wall to formpassageways Fig. 2 shows a silo I5 with hermetically scalablechutedo'ors anda hermeticallysealable'roof door (similar to the ofFig. 1) but provided with one or' more blow-oil valves I601 which onlyone is shown,"which-opens when the pressure in the silo has increasedt'osa'y eight o and which closes again when the pressure 'inthe silo hasdecreased'to saysix ounces. Silo I5 is also equipped with a pipe I!operated by valve 18 for reducing the pressure in the silo to thepressure oi the atmosphere when thesilo is to be opened.

Fig. 31 shows a ,silo which is equipped with hermetically sealablechutedoors and roof door similarto Figs. ,1 and 2, but also providedwith a gas carrying pipeZll having no liquid seal but having a diameterso small that during the fermentation of the'silage a pressure isproduced in the silo notexceeding eight ounces.

As indicated in the drawing, the gas pipes Q and 20, and blow-off valveII, have a bulb screen II or any other suitable perforated contrivancescrewed onto them in the siloto prevent them from being clogged up bysilage particles during the filling of the silo.

Each silo chute has a sufficient number of windows 22 placed all the wayup to the top chute door in the wall opposite the chute doors. Thisadmits light into the chute from which the light passes into the silo,when a chute door is open during the filling of the silo orduring theemptying of the silo.

In the following I wiildescrlbe a method suitable to carry out myinvention: 7 f

Fresh cornstalks with the ears on them, or other suitable silagematerial, are cut up and blown by a silo filler (not'shown) through atube line (not shown) into the silo 4 by way of door 8. As the silo isbeing filled with the material the doors 6 in chute 'arehermeticallysealed one after the other.

manner. tramped down: the silage during the filling of the silo hasleftthe silo, the top door i of .the chute and the door 8 on top-of thesilo roof are likewise I hermetically sealed.

air that was in the top of thesilo. Therefore, mould fungi can not growin the top silage for,

want of air and, asthereis no leakage at any The .silo is filled to justbelow the top door of the chute in the usual After the man whodistributed and.

The method of making silage in silo ll of Fig. 31s the same as describedaforesaid, but with this difference that the gas is carried into theatmosphere by a pipe 20 having a diameter of a size small enough tocause the production of a pressure in the top of the silo that does notexceed eight ounces during the fermentation of the silage but drops tothe pressure of the atmosv,phere when the fermentation of the silage hascome to an end. During the fermentation the silage is separated from theatmosphere by the gas flllingup the top of the silo and the gas passingunder pressure through the gas pipe, but after the fermentation is overthe silage is separated from the atmosphere only by the gas in the topofthesilo. I

.While the gas pressure in the three silos has,

'for illustrative purposes, been limited'in the examples toeight ounces,a somewhat higher pressure may be employed for carrying out myinvention, for -the higher the gas pressure is in the silo the greateris the preserving effect of the gas upon the silage.

The silage in silo and in silo I! does not need to be used'at once afterthe fermentation of the silage has been completed. It canbe leftstanding in the hermetically sealed silos for some time,

of the chute doors or the door in the 'silo top,

there is no spoilage ofxsilageanywhere in the silo. When thefermentation of thesilage has come to an end, as can be seen at theoutlet of pipe 12 of vessel H, globe valve is opened whereby a the gaspressure in the silo is. reduced to the pressure of the atmosphere.Thereupon, the top door of the silo chute is opened, whereby theremainder of the gas in thetop of the silo dropping down the silo chuteis replaced by air. After all the gas 'in the top of thesilo has beenreplaced by air, the silage is ready for use.

There is no particle of spoiled silage, the silage effect of carbondioxide absorbed by the whole mass of silage to a much larger extentthan usually is the case.

The method of-making silage in the silo I! shown in Fig. 2 is the sameas described aforesaid, with the difference that the gas produced duringthe fermentation of the silage is blown off into the atmosphere throughblow off valve it which opens when the pressure in the silo is eightounces and closes again when the pressure in the silo is six ounces.When thefermentation has come to an end, as can be seen when there is nomore gas blown'oif, then globe valve i8 is opened to reduce the pressureof the gas in the silo to that of the atmosphere. Thereupon, the topdoor of the silo chute is opened to sure in the silos can not beincreased by tam ing with a valve. i 1

silage of great for the carbonic acid'in the silage and in the spaceabove the silage preserves the silage for a long time. But after thesilos have been opened the silage therein should be used very soon.

The invention is applicable in the making of silage from any, suitablematerial besides comstalkswith the ears on them, such as sorghums or alegume suchas freshly mowed alfalfa, with which, however,- a smallamount of molasses should bemixed to increase the carbohydrate contentof the alfalfa. I

. As seen, there 'is no valve inthe gas pipe of silos I and I9,which'makes it sure that the pres- 'Having now described my invention, Iclaim:

1. In combination a silo comprising walls that are air tight except fora vertical series of doors in'a side wall'and a filling door in the topwall, means for keeping'all of said doors hermetically sealed when thesilage is fermenting, means for preventing escape of the gas above thesilage until it has reached a desired pressure, and means to cause theescape of any gas in the silo in excess of said desired pressure,whereby to produce ensucculencepflavor and preservation. l I 2. Incombination, a silo comprising walls that are air tight except for avertical series of doors in a side wall and a filling door'in the topwall, means for removably holding said doors hermetically sealedrelative to the silo walls when the silage is fermenting, means in thetop of the silo for holding'the pressure above the silage until it hasreached a certain amount and then releasing only that pressure in excessof said certain amount, said means in the top of the silo being ablow-oil valve which keeps the amount of pressure held in the silo belowthat which would be harmful to the silo walls, and means for reducingthe pressure in the silo to the pressure of the atmosphere when desired.I I

I HERMAN HEUsnR.

